About to buy a TVTuner just 4 MediaPortal! Help?

[M4NDR4K3]

Hello everyone!
First of all, sorry for my poor english. (I'm trying hard here).

I have a little problem here, I live in South America and I have a Laptop: which means I have to buy an USB TV Capture Card, which is not easy, since we don't get a lot of brands here...
I've found this External Analog TV Tuner: PINNACLE PCTV 100E that comes with a Control Remote, does this works in MediaPortal?

I've try to find about this TV Tuner in the Supported TV Cards but I haven't found this "version". This means no one had test this, or it means it dosen't work?

The idea that I can see TV and Control the Media Center throught my Control Remote.


if I asked someone also asked before, I've been using the "search" function but I haven't found any information about this TV Tuner.

for your time, REALLY!

M4NDRAK3

[Paul S]

What format is your local TV broadcast in?

This tuner is listed as having a PAL/SECAM tuner "with full hyperband CableTV support", whatever that is.

Paul

[infinityloop]

if you need a tuner for analog, you have to look for a device with "hardware mpeg2 encoder".
or do you have ATSC?

[James]

I think one of the few USB analog hardware encoding devices is the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most USB devices are software. Certainly all Hybrid USB devices I've seen are only software encoders for the analog part.

[infinityloop]

Originally Posted by James

I think one of the few USB analog hardware encoding devices is the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most USB devices are software. Certainly all Hybrid USB devices I've seen are only software encoders for the analog part.

true

[M4NDR4K3]

Originally Posted by Paul S

What format is your local TV broadcast in?

This tuner is listed as having a PAL/SECAM tuner "with full hyperband CableTV support", whatever that is.

Paul

Thanks for the fast reply Paul.
At my home we have TVCable, I dunno if that changes things or not. As far as I know our TV's are NTSC :-(. I didn't read about the PAL/SECAM thing, I thought it would work with our TV Cable. And I dunno what that "full hyperband Cable TV is either".
Does this means is not gonna work this TV Tunner?

Thanks for your time,
MANDRAKE

[M4NDR4K3]

Originally Posted by infinityloop

if you need a tuner for analog, you have to look for a device with "hardware mpeg2 encoder".
or do you have ATSC?

Hi infinityloop, thanks for replying also.
I don't understand too much about this things (I might be wrong). I wanna use this TVTuner to see the Cable in my computer. ATSC is for HDTV isn't? Well in that case, no we don't have that.

I hope I answer ur questions if not... let me know...

Thanks for your time,
MANDRAKE

[M4NDR4K3]

Originally Posted by James

I think one of the few USB analog hardware encoding devices is the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most USB devices are software. Certainly all Hybrid USB devices I've seen are only software encoders for the analog part.

Hi James, thanks for replying.
Your message is too much for me, lol... I didn't understand too much, let me try to "guess":
What your saying is that the only thing that the "USB Device does" is to send the "image" and the control remote functions to the PC, all the rest is done by a software. If I guess right, this means I could buy a cheaper USB Card (there is a brand I haven't heard called KWORLD which sells USB devices, but with cheaper prices and then buy a Control Remote for PC and I will have "the same thing".

Anyways, the PINNACLE that I've found is not that expensive and I'll be able to buy it, only if it works with MediaPortal (it works with Windows Media Center 2005 supposly)

Thanks for your time...

[M4NDR4K3]

It would be great if I lear how to put all the messages in one. I try to edit it, but I couldn't delte messages. I'm sorry for using that much space, if a moderator could edit it, it would be fine with me :-).

A couple of things:
1) I just wanna watch my TVCable in my laptop (indeed, its not in my laptop, since I'm gonna buy a LCD Monitor, anyways...) and watch all my DVD's, Listen to MUSIC, Radio, etc. or in other words: use MEDIAPORTAL. Does this PINNACLE USB Devices work for this? :-( if now, what can I do (it sucks to live in South America right now, lol).

2) I've been reading over this Forum, and I dunno how but I found that in: http://www.tvxb.com/ there is my TVCable in an .ini file :-).
That's for the Electronic Program Guide?
Does that means that I would have something like THIS screenshot in my MediaPortal. :-)

The software looks great, and it's free, is there any "pro version" where u have to pay? I'm not rich or anything, but I'm looking foward to help "in some way" the develpment of this software...


Thanks for your time, really

[Paul S]

Here's a brief explanation on how a PC records a TV show.

An analog signal is received through your PC tuner and "captured" with it's capture chip. For analog, the captured signal is encoded so that it can be stored on your hard disk. Some applications that come with a capture card allow you to choose the format that the file is saved as (.avi, .mpeg etc). Media Portal records in the MPEG2 format. Encoding the TV signal with software encoders puts a load on your cpu. If your laptop has a small cpu, this could be a problem. That is why a hardware encoding card may be what you need.

I hope this helps you in choosing a card. Take your time and study all the choices. Pay attention to the card's specs and requirements. If it is WMCE compatable it SHOULD be MP compatable.

Paul